Roy’s Waikoloa Bar & Grill

The date was September 13, 1996. The Waimea event began with a Forage Field Day at the Mealani Research Station and continued with the evening “Celebrating a Taste of the Hawaiian Range” at the Kahilu Town Hall. Both activities had an educational focus and were presented by a founding committee.

Committee of Seven Sets Up First Taste

Chef Olelo pa’a Ogawa

Originating the program was Milton Yamasaki, ag research technician at the UH Mealani Research Station and Glenn Fukumoto, county extension agent-livestock program of UH-CTAHR. Other members and their duties included Chef Olelo pa‘a Ogawa, culinary; Gene Erger, marketing; rancher Rick Habien, producers; Kulana Foods, processing; and extension agent Burton Smith, education.

Education Key to Activities

Milton Yamasaki

“The goal of Taste was to create a collaboration between ranchers, food handlers and chefs to create good food,” says Yamasaki, former Mealani manager. The retired ag research technician adds that the day’s events were educational on three levels: to show ranchers how to produce and market a consistent quality, grass-fed product; to have chefs work with the product while using the entire animal; and to show consumers that when grass-fed beef is prepared properly, it is a good product.

“By getting everybody involved in the product—creating, preparing and enjoying—the hope was chefs and consumers would purchase it,” Yamasaki details.

Forage Field Day Presenters

More than 60 ranchers and food handlers—meat processors, food and beverage professionals, chefs, butchers—attended the 1996 Forage Field Day. Speakers and topics:

The first evening Taste at the then Kahilu Town Hall was modest in size when compared to the enormity of today’s event which sprawls both inside and out of the Hilton Waikoloa Village. There was just over 20 culinary/display booths, about a fourth of what is offered today.

Glen Fukumoto

“We had no funding for the (evening) food show; our committee took a risk that the ticket revenue was going to cover the costs of the expenses,” shares Glen Fukumoto, county extension agent-livestock program of UH-CTAHR. “If not, we were all ready to pay from our own pockets. At that first ‘taste event,’ no one envisioned that the event would be a spark and part of the revolution—a reawakening of the local food movement that we see today.”

A long-time supporter of locally sourced products, Kuhio Grille boasts participating for 20 consecutive years at Mealani’s Taste of the Hawaiian Range—ever since the event began in 1996. That same year, Sam and Nelline Araki established Kuhio Grille at its original location in Prince Kuhio Plaza in Hilo.

Remembering Taste Through the Years

Kuhio Grille-2011

Nelline says event participation has been a family affair since the beginning, as daughters Erin, Lauren and Shannon helped dish out food to hungry attendees at the then Kahilu Town Hall. Kuhio Grille served “guava ribs.”

Lauren recalls “walking around to try all the yummy foods.” She adds, “One year, I tried the rocky mountain oysters. It was made like a chicken salad. It wasn’t until my second serving that I realized what it was.”

Family Has Roots in Local Agriculture

Kuhio Grille-2012

Kuhio Grille uses pasture-raised local beef as the restaurant wants to support local food producers, details Lauren. “I think the term is Buy Local,” she notes.

Because of their family background, the Arakis know the importance of using local, fresh products. Sam’s grandfather Genji Araki and his father, Tetsuo, farmed taro in Waipi‘o Valley.

Sam’s mother, Sueno, made huge laulaus from the taro leaves and they were so good, everyone had to have them. Using “Grandma’s” recipe, Kuhio Grille opened as the “Home of the 1 Lb. Laulau” to much acclaim. Wrapped and steamed in the restaurant’s kitchen, the beef, pork or chicken laulau are featured in Kuhio’s Kanak Atak plate—a one-pound laulau with kalua pig, lomi salmon, pickled onions, poi, rice and haupia.

Local Products Used for Menu Items

Kuhio Grille-2013

Kuhio Grille uses local, pasture-raised beef for its burgers, stews and chili. The meat is featured in the restaurant’s signature Fried Rice Loco —a mound of freshly made-to-order fried rice; a juicy, home-style beef burger patty; and an egg topped with Kuhio’s own brown gravy.

In addition to sourcing local taro leaf and beef, the Grille also uses local tofu, watercress, Chinese cabbage, eggplant, ti leaf, pumpkin and fish.

The Arakis are still contemplating what to make for this year’s Taste—they have been assigned ground beef. “We’ve narrowed it down to two recipes,” Lauren shares. “They are both so good; it’s difficult to decide.”

A list of the 1996 culinary participants follows, along with their assigned meat cuts. Mahalo to all the culinary participants, who through the years, have supported our local ranchers, farmers and food producers and have celebrated local, pasture-raised beef at Mealani’s Taste of the Hawaiian Range!

As shared in our last blog, Taste offers a new presentation format for seven culinary stations (out of a total of 30). Seven chefs will be paired with meat from a specific ranch and produce from a specific farm and they will be out on the Lagoon Lanai. These food “players” will be identified by signage at their culinary stations for attendees. Event chair Jeri Moniz says the purpose for the pairings is to foster more communication between food producers and the user of their products—chefs. We checked in with more of the partnered ranchers and chefs to get their take on the challenges of providing local beef and the benefits of using it.

KK Ranch with The Feeding Leaf

Rancher Jason Moniz with TeeCredit: Photo courtesy KK Ranch

KK Ranch is located near Kalopa/Pa‘auilo and has a herd of 700 cows on 5,200 acres on the Hamakua Coast. Rancher Jason Moniz says KK is predominately a cow-calf operation that finishes most of its animals on the Mainland through the Country Natural Beef cooperative program, meaning the cattle are fed a combination of pasture and other natural products with no added hormones or antibiotics. KK keeps and finishes some of its herd here on the Big Isle for local consumption, including 50 animals in 2013.

In the business for 26 years, Moniz says the biggest challenge for keeping local beef at home is increasing feed for cattle here on island. There aren’t many places where the weather is conducive to produce adequate forage year round. He says this not only applies to Hawai‘i, but also to the Mainland U.S.

“We’ve been working to get reasonable prices for water from the Hamakua Ditch so we can irrigate pasture,” he detailed. “A bill recently passed that cuts the price in half so hopefully, between irrigation and rainfall, we can keep the grass growing.”

Partnering with KK Ranch at Taste is a new event planning and catering partnership, The Feeding Leaf. The company’s head

A life-long, Hawai‘i resident, Hiraishi has spent the last few years building relationships with Big Isle food producers and collaborating with Kamehameha Schools Land Asset Division in their farm-to-table initiatives. He says he prefers to use food grown here and will tweak the menu to use local products, rather than sourcing from afar. “I want to support the local economy,” he shares.

Chef Scott says local, pasture-raised beef is flavorful but he has been challenged to get enough. “It’s hard to keep up with the available quantity,” he explains. “A rancher only slaughters so many animals at one time, so there’s a limit to the quantity of certain cuts.”

Chef Scott is assigned skirt steak at Taste and is preparing it miso-grilled on ginger rice. He will marinade it for a day in a base of miso, ginger, sugar, vinegar and mirin (rice wine). Then he’ll grill the steak medium rare atop coals and served on ginger rice prepared with ginger, green onion and cilantro.

Aloha Monday with Ernest DeLuz Ranch

Also located on the Hamakua Coast, Ernest DeLuz Ranch is a four-generation operation named after its patriarch, Ernest DeLuz. Son Stephen serves as ranch manager and oversees a herd of 1400 breeding cows for the cow-calf operation and 300 animals that are finished on grass for local consumption.

Stephen, who studied agriculture at Hawai‘i Community College-Hilo, says the ranch uses 7,000 acres and rotates cattle among pastures. “When the weather is good, finishing cattle on grass is easy; but when it’s dry, it gets tough.” The ranch stepped up its production of grass-fed animals about 10-15 years ago to satisfy a growing demand in the local market. “Dad always did some grass-fed animals, but as popularity for the product grew, we kept more at home.”

In partnership with Kamehameha Schools, the ranch is doing some experimenting with irrigation and Leucaena, a high protein, small tree used for cattle fodder.

“The price has gone up for our weaned cows on the Mainland but we’re going to keep doing what we’re doing,” shares DeLuz. “Dad wants to continue supporting the local market and see how it goes.”

Chef Kanoa Miura of Aloha MondaysCredit: Photo courtesy Aloha Mondays

Aloha Mondays is a unique culinary business, offering meal pickup from its Hilo kitchen while also providing catering services. Chef/owner Kanoa Miura hails from Mililani on O’ahu and got into the business while majoring in art at UH-Hilo. As a student, he worked at a restaurant cleaning fish and had friends over on his day off for “Aloha Mondays.” His college parties and love for catering “to anyone around him” grew into a passion for the culinary arts and jobs at Roy’s Waikoloa Bar & Grill and the Flying Fish in Seattle. He opened Aloha Mondays in 2005.

Miura prefers using local products for their freshness, uniqueness and effort in supporting our economy. He says the benefits of using local, pasture-raised beef are “ethical, as well as healthier and we look up to Kulana Foods as a successful business practicing more sustainably.” Chef adds, “Now and again you get a customer who is not used to the taste…but that’s the food business; you can’t make everyone happy, you just gotta go with what you believe in, stand by it and smile.”

Assigned Top Round from Ernest DeLuz Ranch, Miura is preparing Hawaiian-Style Top Round Poke on ‘Uala Chips. He will marinate the meat in a locally brewed barley wine before grilling and seasoning with classic Hawaiian-style poke ingredients. He’ll serve with Aloha Monday’s house-made sweet potato chips. Chef adds, “Top round tends to be a tougher cut so the barley wine is perfect as a marinade to tenderize the meat and add great flavor.”